Kogi: 50,000 flood victims to benefit from free medical outreach

No fewer than 50,000 persons from the communities hit by a flood that swept through five local governments of Kogi in 2018 are expected to benefit from a free medical outreach.

Dr Saka Audi, Kogi Commissioner for Health, who disclosed this at the inauguration of the free medical outreach programme on Friday in Lokoja, said that the scheme would last for six weeks.

The outreach was organised by Royal Heritage Health Foundation (RHHF), a United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)-funded organisation, in collaboration with the Kogi health ministry.

He said that the programme would target women and girls, while the state government was supporting the interventions directed at other categories of persons like children, adult males, and the elderly.

“The state government will support the outreach with free drugs, general medical services and other medical consumables to ensure that every flood victim in the affected communities benefited maximally, irrespective of age and sex.

“The outreach has already commenced in Ibaji local government. Ajaokuta, Bassa, Lokoja and Kogi local governments will have their turns in line with the already drawn time table,” he said.

He urged benefiting communities to avail themselves the opportunity to benefit from the laudable effort and reaffirmed that the government would continue to do everything possible to provide quality health services to the communities hit by the disaster.

Mr Sunday Adewoye, the Director of Administration in Ibaji Local Government, commended the organisers for the kindness and expressed happiness at the massive turnout of the flood victims.

He, however, expressed concern over the deplorable state of the access roads to the affected communities in Ibaji, regretting that the flood left many of them in a very bad state.

Earlier, the Director of public health in the ministry, Dr Francis Akpa, had said that the state government had promptly responded by locating specific camps for the flood victims.

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